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William John Williams papers
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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
William John Williams, an analytical chemist who immigrated to the United States in 1885 from Abergele, North Wales in Great Britain, worked in a number of manufacturing fields, including fertilizers, soaps, bleaches, brickmaking, and sewage and water treatment. A tremendous amount of his work was with phosphates, reflected in this collection by the substantial amount of notes and correspondence about various chemical processes involving phosphates.
In 1876, he worked for the Phosphate Sewage Company of London. By 1883, he worked in the Redonda Phosphate department of Sadler, Forbes, Abbott & Co. In 1885, he left Great Britain to begin work at the Keystone Chemical Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By 1892, he began work for Walton & Whann, a fertilizer company in Wilmington, Delaware. Four years later, he joined the Weidman Silk Dyeing Company of Paterson, New Jersey. He corresponded with a variety of chemists and companies, and occasionally performed experiments and ran tests for them, such as those he conducted for the Atlanta and Gulf Coast Canal and Okeechobee Land Company of Florida.
Biographical information derived from the collection.
The William John Williams Papers, 1876-1923, consists of .7 linear feet of correspondence, copybooks, letterpress books, science notebooks, blueprints, patent documents, scientific documents, chemistry manuscripts, booklets, playscripts, advertisements, circulars, and notes. The bulk of the collection is dated between 1876-1896, with the exception of two letters, dated 1911 and 1923, which are found in Folder 1. The collection provides a glimpse of the family, personal, and professional life of a British chemist who immigrated to the United States in the late nineteenth century.
Three series comprise the collection: I. Correspondence, II. Professional Papers, and III. Personal Papers. Correspondence and professional papers in the collection indicate that Williams found and pursued numerous occupational opportunities within the dynamic fields of chemistry and manufacturing found in Philadelphia and the greater Delaware Valley in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The correspondence series consists of ten folders and 132 letters. Folders 1, 2, and 3 contain references to a disagreement between Williams' sisters and Henry Tanner in Great Britain over a disputed investment made by Tanner. Folders 4 and 5 relate to various property settlements for which Williams was responsible. Folder 6 includes information and advice related to Williams' search for employment. In Folder 7 is a large letterpress book containing copies of correspondence with family, friends, and colleagues from 1883 to 1885 in addition to the 132 letters mentioned above. The letterpress book also contains copies of reports, analyses, and balance sheets from Williams' professional work as a chemist. Folder 8 contains correspondence to Williams while he lived and worked in Great Britain. Mail that Williams received while he worked and lived in Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey, is found in Folder 9. Several envelopes in Folder 10 contain scientific notes and calculations made on their backs, as well as letters to Williams after he began work in Wilmington, Delaware.
Williams' professional papers comprise twelve folders. His papers have been divided into patents, scientific papers, balance sheets, analyses and reports, process descriptions, scientific notes, blueprints, and business papers. His papers included a number of British patents, including one of his own, and a number of scientific papers which were either published or presented at meetings. Balance sheets were cost and profit estimates for different chemical processes. Numerous reports of the results of different chemical processes, as well as descriptions of the process followed, are included. Assorted scientific notes, two blueprints for parts of a calcination machine, and various business receipts and advertisements round out the series. In addition to the material found in this series, the letterpress book found in folder 8 of the first series contains various reports, analyses, and balance sheets from Williams' professional work as a chemist from 1883 to 1885.
The final series of personal papers contains two folders. Two poems, a cantata, a description of a Japanese wedding, and excerpts from between five and eight plays (three of the items may be different acts from the same play) make up the last series. The several playscripts included in the collection suggest the possibility that Williams participated in various amateur theatrical productions.
Box 1: Shelved in SPEC MSS record center cartons
Removals: Shelved in SPEC MSS oversize boxes (32 inches)
Purchase, 1999
Processed by Ryan K. Thompson, August 2001. Encoded by Jaime Margalotti, February 2022.
- Publisher
- University of Delaware Library Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
- Finding Aid Date
- 2022 February 14
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec
Collection Inventory
Investment problems. Organized by author and unless otherwise noted, are to Williams.
Physical Description17 items
1 item
4 items
4 items
4 items
2 items
1 item
1 item
14 items
3 items
2 items
3 items
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
15 items
6 items
9 items
Land settlement in Wales
Physical Description17 items
16 items
1 item
Selling property and settling insurance policy
2 items
9 items
1 item
Looking for work?
Physical Description13 items
1 item
1 item
11 items
9 X 13 ½ inch 500 page notebook with green cover and brown bindings. Contains index with about 390 entries cataloging various letters to friends, families, and colleagues, as well as numerous reports, analyses, and balance sheets.
While Williams worked in Great Britain
Physical Description15 items
1 item
2 items
2 items
2 items
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
2 items
Williams had moved to Philadelphia, PA and then Camden, NJ
Physical Description14 items
3 items
2 items
3 items
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
1 item
Williams moved to Wilmington, DE
Physical Description15 items
4 items
2 items
1 item
Contains scientific notes and calculations on reverse side
Physical Description1 item
Contains scientific notes and calculations on reverse side
Physical Description1 item
Contains scientific notes and calculations on reverse side
Physical Description1 item
1 item
2 items
1 item
1 item
3 copies
3 copies
5 items
by Williams
with inscription
7 items
preservation copy
Balance sheets contain an analysis of the costs and profits for producing certain products
Physical Description11 items
10 items
15 items
9 items
7 items
2 ½ X 5 ½ inch 48 page
Contains 31 pages of chemical equations, formulas and notes.
8 X 12 ½ inch tan and blue-green 90 page notebook. An index provides 21 entries for the various notes which fill about 60 pages.
2 items
Physical LocationBoth blueprints have been removed to an oversize box
25 X 29 inches
20 X 29 inches
6 items
Preservation copy in folder, original copy in oversize box
Removed from collection and placed in processing folder
Where possible, a play's title has been used, otherwise the first line has been included
pages 1-19.
pages 3-7.
5 pages
pages 1-21
pages 1-8
pages 1-5.
5 pages
1 page
pages 1-16.
5 ½ X 8 ½ inch 40 page notebook with brown covers. Contains 17 pages of lines and stage directions.
3 ¼ X 8 inch 88 page notebook. Contains 58 pages of lines from the play.
3 ¼ X 8 inch 22 page notebook. Contains 14 pages of lines from the play.